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  <title>Chapter 26</title>
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            <h1 class="title">Chapter 26</h1>
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          <h2 class="subtitle">Belah</h2>
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      <p class="first first-in-chapter first-full-width"><span class="first-letter first-letter-t">T</span>he blackness was slow to recede from Belah’s mind. She didn’t remember it being so vast and empty before. She’d always relished the oblivion she reached in the darkness of her deep unconscious. Now she was only acutely aware of the stark absence of the pair of men she had just marked, whose marks had glowed so brightly their afterimages were still burned into her mind. But she’d made a promise, and the recipient of that promise had come to collect.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Warm arms and soft touches coaxed her out of the void. A deep, familiar voice was speaking gently, lovingly, but with words half-choked by emotion. As her senses returned, she became more aware of the scents and sensations surrounding her, and they took her back to a night more than three thousand years ago. The night she’d accepted Nikhil’s proposal.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah forced herself to gather her thoughts before moving and betraying her consciousness to the man who held her. He had her cradled on his lap, the hot water of a bath lapping around her shoulders, her cheek resting against his chest. His touch was gentle, comforting, and she could almost pretend none of the last three millennia had happened. The way he was speaking to her now was so different, evoking memories—feelings—of another time and place. Another man, so different from the monster she knew now.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“You were mine that day. More than you had ever been. You gave me my life, Belah, and more—so much more. What you asked was the least I could give in return, even though I never understood why you would ask it. Did you know what it would do to you when I spilled your blood? That’s the question I have asked myself all this time … whether you planned to leave me for him—for the father of the child you lost. Whether you somehow found me wanting at the end and wished to escape because I couldn’t give you the child you longed for.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah clenched her eyes tighter to hold back the tears inspired by Nikhil’s words. The arrogant brutality of the man she’d seen in the shadows the week before was entirely stripped away. When they’d been lovers, Nikhil had rarely let down his guard emotionally, but on the rare occasions he had, he’d been as raw and vulnerable as a child. That Nikhil was the one who held her now.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I was so angry that you would leave me that way without telling me why. I would have been your mate, regardless of the damage it might have done to my will. The most I ever wished for was for us to share our love so we could have that child. A child of my blood and yours, bound together. I dreamed of how perfect such a child would be. But you took that away from me, and I could never forgive you for that. But now … by all the gods, Belah, I just want you, and to understand why you left.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah slowly lifted her hand and placed it on his chest. He stilled and looked down at her, dark eyes filled with emotion so deep she believed he’d held these feelings in check for as long as she had. How had he not looked at her this way when they met before? That night he’d been devoid of any feeling, his aura an opaque shell and nothing like the volatile shimmer of emotion that surrounded him now.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She was at least relieved that all he seemed to want was to talk, and after all this time, she couldn’t deny him answers.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I didn’t leave you by choice, Nikhil, but the truth is that we should never have wed.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His arms tightened around her as he studied her face. His eyes were wide and brimming with all that unchecked emotion. He swallowed. “Then why <i>did</i> you leave? I have tortured and killed your kind for eternity to try to find answers when they wouldn’t offer them willingly, but none were forthcoming. Your absence drove me mad. All that kept me even remotely sane were the small tastes of your blood I allowed myself when the pressure of loss became too great. I believed you were dead for years, until your brothers came to me and offered an exchange for your blood. I didn’t want to give it up. In the end, I still kept some. But when I tried to see you, they said you wanted me dead and to stay away unless I was prepared to be burned alive.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“They weren’t lying. I would have killed you then, but Ked convinced me to wait until we found where you were keeping Zorion. As for why I left … It was beyond my control. After the marriage ceremony, all we knew was that you would be given many powerful blessings from the other races. Blessings that were granted in the hope that we would be able to find a way for the immortals to finally mate with humans without destroying their minds. You were to be the test—it was the only reason I agreed to mark you.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“But you never did.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“That was my mistake, and I regret it to this day, but we cannot change the past. When you bled me, I had no idea you would do such a thorough job. We should have taken more precautions. When Ked sensed my life at the farthest edge it could reach, he believed the worst. He believed you had turned on me—that the blessings had corrupted you and you were after even greater power by taking my blood.” It wasn’t lost on Belah that her brother’s reaction had only served to self-perpetuate his fears.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“<i>’Iilahatan</i>, I would love you until the end of time. I would never turn on you. All the things I’ve done since losing you were … necessary.” He grimaced in distaste, which Belah found strangely out of character. The Nikhil she had known had always relished every second of battle and reveled in his pursuit of every conquest. He was so dedicated to his role as her general he’d been willing to die for her, and had never indicated he held one iota of remorse for the things he’d done.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Then let me go, Nikhil. We should never have been together. You were <i>Blessed</i>. You were always meant to mate a dragon, but it should never have been me. My siblings and I were never meant to have humans for permanent mates. We understand now that none of the immortals were. Humans were only … vessels or sources for seed to us. I was greedy and foolish when I found you. You gave me the kind of escape no other partner ever could. But that time is over. I have changed.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He lifted a hand from the bath and brushed it down the side of her cheek, his gaze tracing the wet trail his fingertips left behind. “No. I see in you the same woman who recognized the true benefits of the darkness in me, who cherished it and let me bring it out for your glory or your pleasure. You have not changed so much, have you? Not if the state I found you in tonight was any indication. You will have to try harder, little beast.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His voice grew deep and suggestive, his hand falling to her breast and his fingers pinching her nipple hard. Belah hissed and pushed away, darting to the other side of the tub and clutching at her breasts.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Nikhil, no. I promised you seven days, and I will give them to you, but the only way I submit the way you wish is for you to make me a promise in return.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He let out a low growl and rose to his feet. His cock was still flaccid against his thigh, which in itself struck Belah as unusual. It used to be that any reaction she gave to the pain he inflicted on her would make him rock hard.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I have already made you a promise to tell you where your son is. That is enough.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“That was enough for me to give you these few days. But if you want me to surrender my body to you, I want you to promise me you will respect my wishes. I really have changed, Nikhil. I don’t crave the darkness the way I did with you. Forcing me to do anything will just result in me fighting back, and you know I have the power to hurt you.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She gritted her teeth, hoping he would accept her terms, and silently asking forgiveness from Iszak and Lukas for what she feared she may have to do. But the fear subsided as she became aware of the tenderness of the nipple Nikhil had pinched, and the distinct <i>lack</i> of reaction other parts of her body had to the assault.</p>
      <p class="subsq">When she’d met him the week before, she’d responded as if they’d been apart no more than a day. His voice had made her kneel and her core grow hot and needy. She’d been aroused only slightly by her date that night, but Ozzie’s touch had been nothing compared to the roughness of Nikhil’s hands on her body. Despite her disgust over what he had become, she had wanted him, and she’d hated herself for it. But now … she felt no tingle between her thighs, and her nipples were only erect from the cool air, not from arousal.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She glanced at his sleeping cock and then at his right nipple, which was distinctly reddened and irritated when it hadn’t been a moment ago. Then it hit her—every time he inflicted pain, he felt it himself. He felt no pain inflicted on him directly. Could it be the same for pleasure? Could he feel no pleasure, unless he was giving it?</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil was still a powerful man. The sheer magnitude of his might was reflected in the tautness of his muscles. He stood, glistening with bathwater trickling off the familiar curves and planes of him. Belah knew every inch of his body and remembered how to please him.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I don’t want you to fight, little beast. Do you remember how it used to be between us? You would kneel on my command. Your body was mine to do with as I wished, and it pleased you to let me have my way with you. I never asked for more than you were capable of giving. I’m not sure if it was possible for me to ask for more—you gave me everything.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah slipped back through the water toward him. His gaze followed her warily until she stopped mere inches from contact and gazed up into his eyes. The same barely contained heat burned deep in those dark depths, but it wasn’t reflected in his body or his aura.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She raised her hand and cupped his cheek, brushed her thumb over his lower lip, then raised up on her toes and kissed him. He responded with hands at her waist, pulling her against him and deepening the kiss with bruising power. Between them, she drifted her hand down his side and over his belly. She dipped lower and cupped his cock, squeezed gently, and wrapped her hand around his girth.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She barely managed a single stroke before Nikhil wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand away. His fingertips squeezed painfully hard and he brought their hands up before her eyes.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“This will not do, little beast. My touch used to light you up. Does this not hurt enough to turn you on? Do you need more pain?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah ignored his hand and met his eyes with eyebrows raised. With her free hand, she gripped his cock again and squeezed the soft length of flesh.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I could say the same, Nikhil. Do I not please you in the least? Your <i>little beast</i> seems distinctly uninterested.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His jaw clenched and he released her. Water surged around her as he climbed out of the tub and reached for a towel, tossing a second one to her. Without another word, he left the room.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah contemplated ignoring him and staying in the bath, but she hadn’t agreed to these seven days with the intention of torturing him. He had information she needed, that she’d been willing to give up her body to get. As a dragon, that should have been the easiest thing in the world for her to do. Despite being freshly mated to a pair of turul royalty, she should have been able to become aroused by another. No dragon in history had ever had issues responding the prospect of well-earned energy. It was a matter of survival.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Except for her, it wasn’t. She would survive well enough without it, though survival wouldn’t be pleasant. Otherwise, she would not have made the promise she’d made to Iszak and Lukas when she submitted to them.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“This is going to be a long week,” she sighed, and climbed out of the bath to follow Nikhil.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Cinching a white silk robe around her, Belah stopped short in the doorway, her eyes widening at the sight beyond. The room before her swam for a moment in her disorientation at being thrown back into the past. It was an almost perfect replica of her bedroom, the one she’d left behind back in Alexandria, Egypt, three thousand years ago.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Where the hell had he taken her?</p>
      <p class="subsq">The bed was the same, down to the blue silk coverlet. The wooden chest at the foot possessed the same delicate gold latches. If she opened it, she imagined it probably contained the same collection of toys and implements she once enjoyed using with Nikhil in this room.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>Not this room. It can’t be the same room.</i> Yet everywhere she looked, she saw some reminder of the past. Of the time when they had been lovers in every sense.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She swallowed hard, trying to force the hot stone out of her throat, but it only sank lower and ate harshly at her gut.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“If I could love you that way again right now, I would,” she said. “I didn’t want to love you before … the night you found me last week. I hated you so much. I especially hated you for how much I <i>wanted</i> you to own me again.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil stood beside one of the most beautiful gifts he’d ever given her, though this version of it was enough to relieve her worries that he’d somehow transported her to the past. The X-shaped device was more elaborate than the original. This one was built of highly polished wood with well-crafted cuffs attached to each point. It was also covered in padded blue cushions and stood in the center of the room on a slightly raised platform, surrounded by runnels in the stone floor, all of them leading toward a larger central channel that followed a path to a silver-lined basin nearby.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil watched her gaze travel across the floor and moved in front of her, touching her chin to direct her to look at him instead. “I planned this room before I saw you in the flesh again. I had different ideas then about how our meeting would go, until … well, until I got you in here.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“But you hoped … Where are we, exactly? We aren’t in Egypt. The air feels wrong … too thin. The <i>energy</i> is wrong.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“We’re in New York, but not the present. It’s the recent past. I couldn’t risk anyone else chasing you here. Only someone with nymphaea magic and a link to this time or to either of us can find their way in. I wanted to make sure the week you promised me would be uninterrupted. The actual date of this time bubble is insignificant. And only Sterlyn knows it.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah walked around the room, admiring how exquisite every detail was. In all her years on earth before meeting Nikhil, her time in Egypt had been her favorite. She’d been worshiped as both a queen and a goddess. Her subjects were among the most advanced of all the world’s civilizations, the most intelligent, and by far the most attractive and interesting. She’d had a personal harem of pets at her beck and call to satisfy her need for energy, and they were all willing and ready to serve at her whim.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I was a good leader then. And with you as my general, we were the strongest of all the dragon Ascendancies.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Conquering in your name was my greatest honor, Belah. If I could turn back time and return to those days, I would. Believe me, I have tried.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She paused at the bed, running her hand over the silk. The pleasing texture of the embroidered surface bumped against her palm. Golden threads were sewn into the shapes of tiny scarabs all over the fabric. It wasn’t quite identical to the one she used to have, but it was close.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“It was a shame what happened there … Were you there, at the end?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“When the Romans came? I was in hiding by then, but managed to save many of the treasures.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His eyes darted to the chest at the foot of the bed. Belah knelt to open it. The familiar fragrance of jasmine oil wafted to her nose, engulfing her in a fresh wave of nostalgia. She let out a little gasp at the contents of the box.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“It can’t be …” she murmured, reaching inside for a large, oblong, marble shape. But when her hand wrapped around the polished stone, she knew it was the same item she believed. She would remember its heft and balance, the way the veins that colored the marble mimicked those of a man’s cock. How the length of it felt in her hand and how the heavy ridge of its large head used to feel between her thighs. She set it down again in its velvet bed, and with a pang was reminded of another cherished instrument that rested in another velvet bed somewhere else in the city. She doubted she would ever get more pleasure than she did from the music of Lukas’s saxophone.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Something has lit that spark in you, little beast. What was it?” Nikhil asked from behind her. “Did an inanimate object really turn you on more than I do?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t the dildo that had aroused her, but the memory of Lukas’s mating call.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Memories can be powerful things,” she said. She reached back into the chest and picked up another object. “How does this one make you feel?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil’s eyebrows shot up when he caught sight of the slender, elongated, egg-shaped instrument she held. She was sure she caught the glimmer of a smile beginning to curl the corners of his mouth.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“As I recall,” Belah purred, “you weren’t too keen on my use of it the first night we spent together.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His expression darkened. “That’s because I would rather have been using it on you.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She shrugged and put the anal plug back in the box. “I needed to make sure you understood who had the upper hand in our relationship. Besides, what kind of challenge would it have been for a warrior of your prowess if I had simply lain down and let you have your way with me?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">In a rough voice, he answered, “I have never forgotten your power, <i>‘Iilahatan</i>. I worship you still. Let me worship you again the way I always did. Let me give you what you need.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">With a sigh, Belah closed the chest and sat on the lid, facing him. “My needs have changed, my love. And I believe neither of us are capable of fulfilling each other’s needs any longer. If you still wish to try, I will happily let you bind me to that cross again, though I wish you wouldn’t cut me as deeply as you did before. I no longer seek oblivion.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I won’t take you anywhere you don’t wish to go. Just tell me what will please you most.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“What would please me most right now is to understand why you went to such lengths. Why all the torture and killing? You knew me well when you served as my general—you never killed or tortured without my interests at heart, and you were always well-attuned to what would grant me glory. Unnecessary bloodshed wasn’t something I ever wanted. So why, Nikhil?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He frowned and turned away from her, heading toward another doorway to another room. She couldn’t help but feel like his departure was a form of escape, even though he still had the upper hand.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She rose to follow him, passing through the heavy door that eerily resembled the door to her own bedroom from so long ago. Instead of the long hallway she would have encountered in her palace, however, the door led directly into a scaled-down copy of the grand hall, complete with gilded throne at the back of the room. The rear wall in this version was a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that were slowly revealed as Nikhil slid the draperies aside.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Beyond the windows was the night-lit city, alive with human activity and invention, and filled with every emotion imaginable. If she chose to, Belah could send her power out into the night and sense it all, but only one man’s feelings mattered to her in that moment. For the first time since he’d taken her, she focused her power past Nikhil’s aura and went deeper.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Don’t you dare dig into my head,” he growled. “I can sense you starting to do it. You know I can read minds too now? I can’t get into yours, though … I’ve tried. I keep thinking if I could just understand what it is that’s keeping you from reacting to me, I would know what to do to change it. Ever since our wedding night, I’ve had this power … think it was your blood that was the catalyst. After all those blessings the others gave me. But ever since I lost you, it’s been like this extra pressure has weighed down my consciousness. Being with you here is the first time I’ve felt unburdened by that feeling in thousands of years. It makes me wonder what they really did to me on our wedding day.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He turned and looked over his shoulder at her. “They were immortals too, weren’t they? The ones who were there that day. Magic that powerful had to come from creatures like you. But all those blessings feel more like curses now. I can’t even fucking <i>feel</i> the way I used to. But I could feel everything at first. On our wedding night and for at least two centuries after … it was too much for me, Belah. You were right to think the magic would ruin my mind—my will. I had no will to live without you, but I couldn’t fucking die.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She quietly stepped up beside him and touched his arm. “So you killed instead. It was all you knew.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Killing—pain—it’s what I’m good at. I am the <i>best</i> at destruction. I gave into it because I had nothing else. You were gone—I believed you were dead, that I’d somehow managed to actually fucking <i>kill</i> you for real, and your family refused to let me mourn properly. When I learned you were still alive, it only made me angrier. Something took over me … I don’t know how to explain it, but today’s the first day I’ve been relieved of that feeling since.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah recalled the only memory she had of Nikhil from that time shortly after she’d been revived. She’d gone to find him against her brother’s warnings, but what she’d found was a man more brutal and devoid of humanity than anyone she’d ever known. He’d been in the process of torturing and then fucking a human woman who closely resembled Belah herself, and who had also apparently enjoyed his torture almost as much as Belah once had.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“You took it out on women who looked like me,” she said.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Not entirely. I still wanted something good. The one thing I had wished for to the depths of my soul with you … to have a child. I suppose I figured if it could at least look like it came from us both, I would be satisfied.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“And were you? It did happen eventually, I know that much.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He let out a soft snort and shook his head. “Omar was as weak as his mother. I was furious when he was killed, of course, but the clarity of time has made me understand what a waste of time it was to want a human child. I have since set my sights higher.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“How so?” She was alert for a shift in his aura, to at least catch some emotional cue she would miss otherwise, but he abruptly shut down, his aura turning gray and inert in a shocking fashion. He’d developed some unique powers the likes of which she’d never seen before.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“It doesn’t matter now, because you’re finally with me.” He turned to face her then, and the wildness in his eyes startled her. It wasn’t the wildness of insanity—no, he still had a perfect grasp on his mind, but he was as determined as a warrior on the battlefield. The man who stood before her was prepared for a fight, and the look in his eyes was the certainty of victory. His aura abruptly flashed bright red again. It was such a stark contrast to that strange, momentary shift to null that she wasn’t sure she’d even seen it.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Nikhil,” she said cautiously, “what are you thinking?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“The only thing I want in exchange for telling you where your son is, is for you to give me that child, Belah. Mate me. You know my mind can handle it, after all the magic I’ve endured. This little pocket of time we live inside can be made to last as long as it takes. No one will find us here. When it’s done, you can go, and those on the outside will never even know how long you’ve been with me.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She gaped at him. “I’m not concerned about your <i>mind</i>, Nikhil. It simply cannot happen. Dragons don’t get pregnant just because we’re mated. There’s an element of desire required that can’t be coerced. I have to <i>want</i> to bear your child, and I’m very sorry, but I don’t.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She had, once, very much. Enough that it had indeed happened despite his lack of mark. But she understood that the wedding blessing bestowed on him by the ursa shaman had been enough for her to conceive in the end. Belah wasn’t prepared to tell him of his daughter’s existence yet. Not when she was still so uncertain of Nikhil’s intentions, or how he would react to her ultimate rejection.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He gripped both her arms and squeezed, giving her a slight shake. “This is <i>all</i> I ask, and it is something I know you want—at least, you did once.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I promised you a week, Nikhil. Seven days to have me, and no more.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He narrowed his eyes, and she sensed the devious calculation of a military mind seeking a new assault tactic.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Fine. Seven days. By the end of it, if I can convince you to bear my child, you will stay with me long enough for that to happen. If not, I will take you to your son.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She gave him a sad look and raised her hand to his cheek. “I will agree, but only as long as you acknowledge that some things may be beyond our control. We have at least one major obstacle standing in the way of your wish.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Let me worry about that. Getting you in the mood was always one of my specialties. Your pleasure is all I need.” His eyes glinted with excitement as he slid his hand to the back of her neck and tangled his fingers into the wet strands of her hair. He twisted them tight and pulled her head back in a move she remembered well from their time together.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The force of his pull lowered her to her knees, the position itself one of her favorite triggers to deep arousal. In the past, she’d already be flooded with wet heat and eager to do his bidding.</p>
      <p class="subsq">This time, her heartbeat remained slow and steady, her nethers inert. And Nikhil’s cock equally unresponsive.</p>
      <p class="subsq">With a roar of displeasure, he yanked hard at her hair, twisting it until her neck ached and she was forced to spin onto her butt. He pulled her across the floor toward the bedroom, her feet scrambling against the marble to try to keep up. Her insides roiled with anger at his inability to accept the truth, but she knew she had to let him come to terms with their situation on his own.</p>
      <p class="subsq">When they reached the bedroom, he hauled her to her feet and spun her around to face the cross.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Climb on, belly first,” he commanded, shoving her toward the contraption.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She went, dropping her robe to the floor before stepping up onto the dais and placing her feet on each of the small ledges at the bottom points of the cross.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The cross had been built with her exact proportions in mind, and her wrists fit neatly into the fleece-lined leather cuffs at the top. She found small, polished handles above that fit perfectly into her palms and gripped them.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil cuffed her wrists and ankles, then disappeared for a moment. She heard the rattle of a latch and knew he had opened her chest of toys.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The disturbance of the air over her skin telegraphed the strike of the whip a split second before the crack sounded and her back exploded in pain. She screamed, more from surprise than from the sting that bloomed into bright red behind her eyes. Another strike soon followed the first, then another. They grew progressively harder and quicker, each one preceded by a grunt of frustration from their deliverer.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Why won’t you respond?!” he yelled. “What is <i>wrong</i> with you?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">After a final cursing outburst from him, the strikes ceased and the whip handle cracked against the floor. Nikhil’s ragged breathing echoed through the room.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Do you remember the first time I whipped you, beast?” his voice rumbled, the tense edge to it barely betraying the pain he must be in after inflicting such punishment on her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I remember it vividly. You were magnificent then. As you are now. Even more now for enduring what you give me. You know I have an infinite tolerance for pain, Nikhil. Don’t do this to yourself.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She twisted her head just enough to catch a glimmer of movement from the corner of her eye. He’d fallen to his knees to catch his breath and now rose with a wince.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“My pain is worth it if it wakes you up, little beast.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Nikhil … don’t …” Belah protested, but was interrupted by something foreign and strange-smelling being pressed against her lips. She opened and a round, smooth object settled against her tongue. It was slightly bitter tasting and cool on her tongue. She tested with her teeth and found the surface had some give, the rubbery texture springing back when she released her bite.</p>
      <p class="subsq">As he fastened the buckles at the back of her head, he said, “Not one of your original toys, but I knew I might need it when I got you here. No more talking, little beast. I know you can endure everything I have to give, and I am not here to torture you, after all. We will keep trying.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His fingertips feathered over her sore back, tracing what she knew were raised, red welts that tingled pleasantly when he touched them. The truth was that she <i>had</i> enjoyed the whipping. She enjoyed being bound and at his mercy. The surrender was as liberating as ever. The only difference was that her reaction didn’t extend to any erogenous zone whatsoever. It was therapeutic, but only in the most abstract way. The depth of feeling Nikhil hoped to drill into her simply wasn’t happening. She took no carnal pleasure in his touch.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He unfastened her cuffs and bodily flipped her over, then recuffed her wrists and ankles so that she faced him. In her mind, she replayed the promise she had made Iszak and Lukas.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“I will take pleasure in no other partner without your leave until Fate decrees my days on this earth are done.”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">Those words, combined with the power of her bond to the brothers, were more than enough to prevent her body from ever finding sexual pleasure in another man’s touch.</p>
      <p class="subsq">It wouldn’t work, but Nikhil was unwilling to hear any more protests from her as the ball gag so obviously indicated.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She could only watch and will herself to be patient with him while he worked it out on her body. With any luck, the pain would exhaust him soon, and he’d allow her to speak again.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He came toward her with a pair of familiar objects, a look of determination on his face. “These were your favorites before. Let’s see how they work today.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Nikhil lowered to his knees in front of her and wrapped one barbed band around her upper thigh. As he cinched it and the tiny teeth on the inside of the leather dug into her skin, she let out a low moan of recognition. These two little bands had been an irreplaceable part of her wardrobe for so long, but had been among all the earthly possessions she had no use for in the Glade.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah stared down at him, her eyes watering from the exquisite pain and no doubt betraying her excitement at being reintroduced to such perfect sensation. Nikhil’s own eyes reflected her excitement. When he tightened the second band, his fingers strayed up her inner thigh and brushed against her bare labia.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A disappointed frown washed the excitement away when he spread her folds and found her dry.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Still, that didn’t stop him. He rose again and went to the chest, returning with a small wooden box.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“You are missing a few things. I removed these from you on our wedding night with the promise I would return them afterward, but I never had the chance. Now is time.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He opened the box, revealing a trio of golden scarabs attached to small hoops, a gift he had given her early in their love affair so long ago. That had been the day he learned that her skin could not be broken by any human implement, but a needle tempered by her own fire would do the trick. It was one of many secrets she should never have allowed him to know without marking him first—one of many foolish mistakes she had made for this man who should never have been hers.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She wanted what he offered, and wished that this time her body would react the way he hoped, if only to appease him once more before she had to tell him the truth—that she could never be with him again because it was not part of Fate’s plan for her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The needle he wielded pierced true, just as it had the day she’d anointed it in her fire. Moments later, the fresh weight of the scarabs pulled ever so slightly at her nipples, and between her thighs at the hood of her clitoris.</p>
      <p class="subsq">And still her body failed to become aroused.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The frustration and rage Nikhil had managed to contain so far spilled out. He tore across the room and bent before the chest, tossing its contents out onto the floor. Belah could only watch, mute and horrified at the bleeding stripes that adorned his back—a macabre reflection of the sweet torture he’d inflicted on her, and evidence of how much he was willing to endure for this futile quest.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She made a desperate sound around the gag, her chest aching for his pain. Summoning her power, she exhaled through her nose and sent the power to Nikhil. She may not have been able to share any pleasure with him, but surely her magic would work to ease his pain the way it used to.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The cloud of blue smoke blanketed his back and wrapped around him, sinking into every bit of flesh she knew must hurt, including the reddened stripes of flesh around his thighs. His body visibly sagged with the relief and he turned back to her, his eyes haunted now.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“What am I to do, <i>’Iilahatan</i>?” He came toward her again, plodding slowly as he scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. “You are the only female I have ever wished to bear my child. I’ve spent most of my life trying to make that child come to be without you—I have tried to recreate a version of you from your blood. I’ve built the most advanced laboratories in human existence, just for the sake of finding ways to bring that child into this world, but none of my efforts have borne fruit. Now that you are back, I hoped we could make the child the way we were meant to, but that isn’t meant to be, either, it seems.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His words roughened and his eyes darted away from hers as he unbuckled the gag and tossed it aside, then moved to release her from the cross. When her hands were free, Belah gripped the sides of his head.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Hope isn’t lost, Nikhil. If you would just let me go—let this insane pursuit of yours go and just be a man again—Fate may smile on you.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“No. I’m not ready to give up.” He pulled away and released her feet, then rose and tossed her robe to her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah followed him to the other room, where an expertly concealed kitchen was now visible. It seemed there was an entire apartment’s worth of space there, filled with modern conveniences similar to her hosts’, though Erika and Geva’s residence had definitely appeared more lived-in than this stark and shining space.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“You must be hungry,” he said, pulling various foodstuffs out of a large refrigerator. “If we can’t make love, we may as well eat.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I don’t think seducing me with food will work any better than the whip did,” Belah said, though the sight and smell of all the sumptuous dishes he produced definitely made her wonder.</p>
      <p class="subsq">He shoved a bowl of fruit in front of her and she raised her eyebrows. “Really? You used to have me kneel at your feet and feed me from your own plate. Am I not still your cherished pet? Your little beast? Are you sure you haven’t really given up?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He gave her an irritated look, then sighed and went back into the other room for a moment. When he returned, he unceremoniously clapped a golden cuff around her throat and attached a heavy chain to the clasp in the front. With the chain wrapped around his hand, he grabbed several dishes and tugged her to the nearby table.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah shed her robe again and followed, obediently kneeling the way she used to when Nikhil sat. He leaned back in his chair and regarded her with a defeated look.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Why are <i>you</i> trying?” he asked. He plucked a grape from a bunch and toyed with it for a moment before pressing it lightly to her lips. She opened and let the small fruit roll into her mouth, savoring the burst of cool, sweet juices when she bit into it.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Despite your fears to the contrary, I did love you then. I treasured you and everything you did for me. Not a day has passed since I regained consciousness that I didn’t regret leaving you behind, even though it was beyond my control. You became what you did because of me. I would do anything to change that. If being your little beast again helps, I will do it. If I need to be your goddess instead, I will do that.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“But you won’t let yourself want me again, will you? I am incomplete without you, don’t you understand that? And none of this …” He swept his hand out to indicate the food, then down at her naked body. “None of this fucking <i>works</i>. It’s all bullshit, Belah. I have no goddamn use for the world if I can’t have you.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“You have me for seven days, Nikhil. You were willing to accept that before. Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">He plucked another grape and fed it to her. Sighing, he left his thumb against her lower lip and drank in her face, as though starved for the sight of her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I’m not accustomed to ceding victory, little beast. Don’t ask me to do that yet. At least let me believe I might win for a few more days. And if I have to lose, then I can think of no more worthy opponent to surrender to.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah opened her mouth for another morsel of food. She would play the role of the obedient pet, if it helped ease his mind for the time being. But at the end of the week, he would have to admit defeat.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Her heart ached for him. Nikhil had never lost a battle when he served as her general. Since his rise to power as the Ultiori leader, he’d ended the lives of so many dragons, as well as those of all the other races. If kneeling before him for seven days could change that, she had to try.</p>
      <p class="subsq">But at the end of the week, Belah knew she might have to decide whether to sacrifice the knowledge she sought for the safety of all the races and their children. She had to be prepared to kill him.</p>
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